Outsider
by Sol1993
Summary: Following the first season of Riverdale, Original Character thrown in the mix. Much of the storyline will stay roughly the same but there will be some changes. Not entirely sure where I'm going to take this yet but plenty of ideas rolling around. If you enjoy it or even have some advice or something you want to see please review of message me, love to hear opinions.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One.- The Odd Meeting.**

Things had gone smoothly enough the first day back to school, about as well as she had expected. She was as invisible as ever and that worked out for her, she had had her stretch of being seen and realised it wasn't for her. The study session she had at the end of the day was spent in one of the music rooms, it was a good size and had a piano, she was hoping she would be able to claim it for any of her future study sessions. She was sat at the piano making changes to the song she was working on when she felt the gaze on her, someone was looking at her through a gap in the door and she wasn't sure how long they had been there. She blushed slightly at the thought of someone hearing the songs she had been singing throughout the first half of the sessions. She tried to subtly look over her shoulder to see who was looking in but she couldn't make out anymore that a shape sat in the doorway. She shook her head as if to shake the feeling free but it wouldn't budge, she had terrible stage fright and even singing in front of one person could make her palms begin to sweat so the idea of singing now was out of the question and her focus had slipped away from the song she was attempting to finish. Instead she shuffled the papers around before putting them back into the bag by her side and pulled out some other things she could work on until the end of the hour. It came quicker than she was expecting but she heard a small buzz from her phone signalling the alarm she had set for a couple of minutes before the bell rings, she quickly packed up her items and slung the bag back over her shoulder. As she turned back towards the door she saw a shadow still falling over the opening, moving now as the person sat on the other side seemed to be standing as she was approaching. She pulled the door open in a quick motion and found a beanie-clad boy straightening up and stretching as if sitting on the ground hadn't been overly comfortable. At full height he came to a head taller than her, he had a small look of surprise on his face as he turned to face her, she knew who he was right away but they had never spoken, or even been this close before. She noticed his green eyes first and the curl of hair that fell just over them, her gaze seemed to remind him it was there as he reached up to sweep it out of his face before shaking his head lightly as if to clear it.

"I had no idea you were interested in music." She couldn't help the short burst of laughter that came from her lips at that statement as she made her way past him.

"You say that as if you know anything about me." She heard a slight huff of frustration before she felt a hand around her upper arm, light but enough pressure to stop her walking and draw her attention back to him.

"Who says I don't know anything about you?" He look confused and unhappy with the idea he wouldn't know anything about her.

"I've been in the same class as you for two years, do you even know my name?" He was surprised by that, clearly thinking she was a lot newer in town. "And I don't go by 'Chuck's girlfriend' anymore." She saw the flash of recognition in his eyes and cut off the response she predicted coming, she had been called that by everyone for the whole of the summer and the two months prior, at least it had been accurate then. "Goodbye, Jughead." She saw his face fall as she turned away began walking back towards the doors of the school.

* * *

Jughead couldn't help but feel intrigued by her, he had heard her singing and couldn't stop himself from sitting and listening to her, the songs were obviously her own as she kept stopping to change certain words or phrases, her voice was amazing and she clearly had a talent for writing too. He kept sneaking looks through the door, he couldn't see her very well from his position, just dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. He hadn't realised how long he had been sat there when the music stopped, he looked back in to see her sat in strange way and suddenly very still, when she moved again it was to begin putting things away and pulling new items from her bag. A look at his phone showed him that it was still some time before the end of the hour and he was determined to talk to her before she left the school so he sat and waited. Her appearance had shocked him when she opened the door, a mixture of the messy ponytail high on her head, the small scar on the side of her chin, the complete lack of make-up adorning her face and the most prominent of all the bright blue eyes that looked as if they could look straight into his soul had struck him silent for a beat until he could force the words out. It did him little good to talk to her anyway, all it did was make him feel terrible. He had always thought himself fairly observant, especially with people and here was someone he had failed to notice the existence of, except for who her boyfriend was, for a whole two years. As he watched her walk away from him a different figure entered the hallway, Chuck followed a few other football players were making their way through the school, he watched her freeze at the sight of them and shift herself as far away as she could from them in the confines of the hallway. It wasn't until they had walked passed her that he realised she had been holding her breath and she let it out in one big burst that slumped her shoulders. The bell rang to signal the end of the school day and he lost sight of her through the floods of people hurrying out of their relative classrooms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.- More Information.**

"Robyn!" She looked up at the calling of her name and sighed heavily but couldn't help smile at the proud look on Jughead's face at knowing her name, just seconds after it had been called out for attendance.

"Well done, you paid attention to the teacher calling names out." He still looked overly proud of himself as he smiled at her. He looked at the seat next to her, as if looking for an invitation. She sighed again.

"Please, take a seat." He did as he was told and sat next to her, the teacher was calling for quiet and the conversations going on around the room died down to silence.

"The person sat next to you now will be your partner for the rest of the term, all projects will be done as pairs." She turned to see Jughead smiling lightly as if happy with the development. She waited for the teacher to tell them what reading to do from the textbook and the conversations to pick back up around the room before turning to talk to him again.

"I know your dad." He looked back at her in complete shock. "I thought you should know, I work as a waitress at the bar he runs. I've worked there since my family moved to town." He seemed to calm down slightly as she explained herself.

"Did he tell you to talk to me?" A burst of humourless laughter burst forward from her.

"I didn't talk to you, you spoke to me." He nodded lightly as if to concede the point. "I realised a while ago I was going to the same school as his son and let him know I wouldn't be passing along any information about you. Not that it mattered much as I don't know all that much about you, but I haven't told him anything." He nodded again, looking down at his unopened book.

"Thanks." His voice was quiet as he responded.

"Of course, I could tell him something, if you wanted me to." He looked up at her then, a questioning look in his eyes. "I know you aren't staying with him, I know you haven't for a while and I can guess the reason for it." His expression turned back to one of shock and she sighed lightly. "I don't know where you're staying, and you don't have to tell me. I know it isn't with him because sometimes he needs help getting home at night and I'm usually the person helping him. I've seen him drink and I know how he can get, my educated guess is you don't stay with him because of that." She kept eye contact with him as she explained, not looking for any response, there was a strange look in his eye as she finished talking and he kept eye contact for a moment longer before sighing as he looked away.

"How's he doing?" He looked back up.

"Good days and bad days." She shrugged lightly, unsure of how much he wanted to know. "He's trying." Anger suddenly flashes in his eyes as he looks back to her and she recoils from it strongly.

"What would you know about him trying, I've heard him say that a million times." She just nodded lightly, no longer moving away from him and his anger.

"I know, and I know he hasn't always meant it." The anger was still in his eyes as she looked back at him. "I think he does this time." He shook his head at the thought. "I don't expect you to believe me."

"I don't." She just nodded to him, expecting the response and went back to reading the chapter they were supposed to be looking at, without a word of it going in. "What would you know about it anyway?"

"Hmm?" She wasn't sure what he meant by the question and was surprised by the change in tone to something more curious than angry.

"What would you know about my dad trying and whether he means it or not?" She met his eyes and there was no anger there anymore.

"I've known your dad for a while, those times he said he was trying and didn't mean it, I saw that too. At least some of them." He heard him sigh beside her. "I've seen it all before." This wasn't something she wanted to talk about, her voice was quiet now.

"Seen it before?" She sighed heavily.

"You're not the only one with family trouble." He looked at her questioningly.

Suddenly the bell rang and Robyn had never been so happy to hear that sound and dodge the conversation that was coming. She hadn't had to talk about her family, her mum, for a long time and Jughead knew nothing about her, this shouldn't be the first thing he learnt. She hurried to stand up and grab her things before following the rest of the people out into the hallway.

* * *

"Hey, Em!" Robyn shouted into the quiet house. "You home?" The door suddenly opened behind her, making her jump slightly.

"Yeah, I'm home." She laughed lightly as she moved further into the house, heading towards the kitchen, her younger sister following her.

"I've got work tonight, I'll be leaving soon. You want something to eat before I go?" She turned to see her sister nodding to her.

"Whatever we've got." She rummaged through the fridge for a minute before pulling out some ingredients.

"Lasagna sound good?"

"Hmm, yeah. Dad home tonight?"

"Not sure, might be a late one for him." Emma just nodded to her again, used to the response she got most nights. "Will you stay here or go over to a friends?"

"Stay here tonight, I've got some stuff to do."

"Ok, I'll be back as early as I can be..."

"And I'll keep my phone on and message throughout the evening and call if I need you." She interrupted, used to the speech as well.

Robyn just laughed lightly at her sister and continued getting the dinner ready for the two of them.

"Right, lasagna in the oven. I'm going to shower and change before I have to leave."

"Ok, I'll be here." She looked into the living room to see Emma sitting comfortably on the couch browsing through Netflix.

She showered quickly and put on jeans and a t-shirt, both black, as she usually wore to work, and tied her hair back into her usual ponytail as best she could attempting to smooth down any stray hairs but knowing it wouldn't stay neat for long.

Emma was in the kitchen when she made her way back down, taking the lasagna out of the oven and placing it on the top to cool.

"The oven started beeping, so I took it out." She hurried forward to check on the lasagna before getting out a spatula from the draw.

"Thank you, go sit down. I'll bring you a piece." She nodded to her and left her to continue dishing up the dinner.

They spoke about the first couple of days back to school as they ate, Robyn smiled as her sister told her about her group of friends and which classes she was enjoying so far. She shared some small snippets from her days too but there wasn't all that much to tell.

"Did you see him today?"

"Yes I did." She who her sister was referencing and didn't want to have this conversation with her.

"And?" Emma looked at her with a strong look, expecting an answer.

"And nothing, we crossed each other in the hall, ignored each other completely." She looked at her watch and she was glad to see it was time to leave. "I've got to get going."

"Fine, I'll see you later tonight, we can talk more about it then." She sighed as she left the table to put her plate in the sink.

"There's nothing to talk about, he wants nothing to do with me and I want nothing to do with him." Emma followed her into the kitchen and met her eyes, she seemed to believe her as she nodded lightly to her. "Call if you need anything and let me know if you're going to bed before I get back."

"Will do." She smiled as Emma gave her a small side hug before she left the house.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.- Bar visit.**

"Anything else I can get you guys?" Robyn looked down at the table with four serpents sat around it, they had been talking quietly among themselves when she approached.

"No." The man in the corner furthest from her answered in a rude tone, making her raise her eyebrow slightly. She saw as he jumped slightly as one of his companions kicked him under the table.

"No, thanks Robyn. Sorry about-" He nodded towards his friend next to him now rubbing his leg.

"That's alright, I'm used to Red's bouts of rudeness. Give him another kick if he causes any trouble." That earned her a chuckle from the table and finally a small smile from Red in the corner. "That's better. Give us a shout if you need me." She turned and left them to their conversation then and carried on around the bar.

"Be back in a minute." The bartender nodded to her as she made her way in to the storage room behind the bar.

A quick check of her phone told her she still had just over an hour until the end of her shift, her sister had messaged her a few minutes ago letting her know she was going to bed and she would see her at breakfast the following morning. She smiled as she typed back a quick message to her but it fell from her face quickly as she heard noises from the other room. She sighed as she slipped her phone back in her pocket and hurried out to see what had caused whatever fight was going on in the bar this time.

"Whatever is going on out had better stop before I-" She stopped short as she saw one serpent pinning someone to a wall, as she got closer she saw who the other person was. "Jughead!" All heads that had been looking at the fight quickly turned to look to her.

"Jughead as in...!" She sighed heavily at the group in front of her.

"F.P's kid. You may want to back off." Mustang, the serpent with a short temper, quickly moved away from Jughead. Robyn rubbed her head softly as if to dispel the headache that was coming on. "What are you doing here?" She looked back up to see Jughead giving her a strange look. "Urgh, come with me." She didn't wait for him to answer as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the storage room, as soon as the door shut behind him she dropped his arm and turned to face him, still expecting an answer to her question.

"Y-you look different." He was looking her up and down with an odd look on his face.

"Yeah, I don't tend to dress like this for school." She looked down at her clothing to see a more fitted t-shirt and jeans than what he would have seen her in before, she usually opted for more baggy clothing for school. "What are you doing here?" She made eye contact with him as he reached up a hand to scratch the back of his head, knocking his beanie slightly before he put it right again.

"Came to see my dad." She gave him a questioning look and he avoided her eyes completely.

"Well, he's not here so you can go." She started to attempt to make her way back through the room.

"Where is he?" The question stopped her and brought a small smile to her lips.

"I survive here by not asking stupid questions like that. He's doing something that is wholly his business." She stepped again towards to door of the room. "Either way, he's not here."

"Ok, fine. I also came to talk to you." She saw the questions in his gaze as he made eye contact again.

"And the time at school wasn't enough?" He sighed lightly. "You shouldn't have come here Jughead, those aren't guys to mess around with."

"Yeah I got that idea. I wanted to talk to you and this was the only place I knew you might be, I didn't even know if you'd be here."

"You're lucky I was, they don't take kindly to strangers."

"Well thanks for getting me out of whatever I had got myself into out there." She couldn't help the slight chuckle that came forward.

"Mustang is a real pain, terrified of F.P though. They all know who you are now, not sure how he's going to take that, he had wanted to keep you off their radar." She shook the thoughts out of her mind, a problem for another time. "Now you're here, what exactly did you wanted to talk to me about?"

"What you were saying earlier, family trouble?" She nodded her head lightly at his words. "You know about my mum and sister then?" She hadn't been expecting that question.

"Yeah, I know. I was working the night they left, wasn't F.P's best moment." Jughead sighed at her comment and she instantly felt bad for her statement. "I just mean-"

"I know what you mean." His voice was quiet.

"It's the only part of it I saw, he was a mess. It was the first time he had mentioned a daughter, I had no idea. I only got bits and pieces of the information but I think I got the idea. I'm sorry." She reached and touched his arm softly, in what she hoped was comfort and he turned back to her with hard eyes.

"I sat at home alone that night, I waited for him to come home for hours, ended up just sat in Pop's because I didn't want to see him at all." She nodded at him. "You don't know what that's like." He pulled his arm free of her touch and she sighed heavily, she hadn't wanted to tell this story.

"My mum abandoned us, my dad, my sister and I, when I was seven, my sister was only four. She left first thing on a Sunday morning, when my dad found out she had left he walked out and we didn't see him again until Monday morning. I wanted to leave, I was so angry at him I didn't want to see him when he came back, I didn't have that option though, I had my sister to look after. I know exactly what it feels like." He was looking at her then, his eyes softening and he understood some of things she was saying earlier.

"Your mum?" His voice was quiet, as if he already knew the answer and she nodded lightly as she was expecting the question.

"Alcoholic, violent one at that." He nodded to her, she could see he felt guilty over his assumptions. "It's not the same, and I know that. But I do know kind of what you're going through. I've watched your dad not really try to get his life on track for nearly two years, but I've seen a change in him too."

"Will you tell him I came here?"

"He'll find out, they won't keep it from him." She nodded to the bar. "It's probably best it comes from me."

"And you'll tell him what we talked about?"

"I don't have to, it's not really any of his business." He nodded to her then. "I can pass along a message to him though?" Her tone was hopeful as she asked the question.

"What am I even supposed to say to him?" She shrugged her shoulders to his question, not sure of how to respond.

"When did you last talk?"

"It's been a few weeks."

"Maybe just start with 'hello' then, it might just be nice for him to hear from you. I think he needs all the support he can get right now." He nodded to her. "He should be back before I leave tonight, I'll let him know."

"When do you get off?" She looked at her phone before answering.

"Just less than an hour, I clock out at 11." He nodded to her. "I should get back out there." He had a surprised look and he shook his head lightly.

"Right, yeah."

They both made their way back out into the bar and she noticed the odd looks she was getting from multiple people around the room. She walked with him back to the door, a few serpents were stood outside smoking in the warm evening and turned to the sound of the door opening.

"See you at school." He nodded to her before turning and walking away. She watched until he was out of sight before she turned back to the serpents in the bar, all of them now looking at her. "Not a word to F.P until I talk to him." Nods came from many of the serpents before they all turned back to whatever they had been doing before Jughead walked in.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- Father and Sons.**

Robyn had fielded questions and comments about how well she knew Jughead for the 30 minutes between him leaving and F.P walking into the bar. A silence fell over the place causing him to cast a strange look around everyone there.

"Hey, F.P." His eyes were tight with an unknown emotion as he looked down at her.

"Robyn." She could tell he wasn't in a good mood tonight. She turned to look at the man next to him, he couldn't have been much older than her, black hair nearly down to his shoulders and dark eyes peering out from behind it. "This is Joaquin."

"Hey, nice to meet you." She put on her customer service voice and smile as she greeted him. She was met with a surly silence, something that wasn't so uncommon with the regulars at this bar.

"He's a man of few words." F.P offered up the explanation and she just nodded and turned her attention back to him.

"Do you have a minute?" F.P nodded to her and gestured for her to follow him to his office upstairs.

The office was always the same, minimalist as F.P himself is, a bookcase along one wall with things that belonged to the owner of the building and a desk that had some small personal items. She took a deep breath, not knowing quite the reaction she would get from him.

"Jughead came here today." She could see the shock plain on his face as he turned to look at her.

"Why?" She shrugged lightly, unsure of the exact reason he had come here instead of waiting until they were in school the following day.

"He wanted to talk, we left a conversation unfinished at school and I guess he wanted to finish it." He made his way around the desk and sat down heavily, hunched as if he had a weight on his shoulders.

"About what?" She shook her head and he saw a light smile come to his lips as if expecting the answer. "Not my business?"

"He told me to say hi for him." She watched as he quirked an eyebrow up at her.

"And why would he do that?"

"Why not?" He let out a small burst of laughter at that statement.

"Because he hasn't reached out to me for weeks, never turned up here. What did you do?" His laughter put her at ease and she sat down opposite him.

"We just talked. I told him I knew you, he asked about you and I told the truth." He nodded to her.

"So what now, you'll keep talking to him about me?" She could practically see the wheel turning in his mind at the thought of having this link.

"If he wants to know and you want me to tell him. I won't lie though, I either tell him everything or I keep quiet." He was silent for a few moments, looking at a single spot on the desk in front of him before looking up and meeting her eye.

"Fine, if he wants to know then you can share anything you see fit with him." She was slightly surprised by this but hoped it didn't show much on her face. "So they all know who he is now?"

"Yeah, typical Mustang had him pinned to a wall when I came back into the bar." She saw the anger flash in his eyes. "Don't worry, no one was hurt and I have no idea what Jughead did or said before that point. Knowing Mustang it could have been anything." There was still the tinge of anger as he nodded to her. "What will you tell them?"

"That he isn't ready for this, I don't want him involved with the serpents." She nodded lightly, expecting the answer.

"I know you don't." She saw him squint his eyes slightly at her and she chuckled lightly. "You've kept him from them for a long time, he's at the age they would start looking at bringing him in. I know you don't want him in and I don't think he wants in himself, but they may be harder to get away from the idea."

"I'll deal with it." That signaled the end of the conversation and she nodded as she stood up. "Hey, how is he, in general I mean?" She turned back and smiled lightly at him.

"He seems ok." He nodded to her and she watched again as he hunched over as if something was weighing him down.

"You doing ok?" She couldn't help the question coming forward.

"Yeah." He smiled but it looked forced to her. "Now get back to work." She smiled at him again and made her way back down into the bar.

The place was getting quieter but she slowly made the rounds, she saw Joaquin still stood by the bar, seeming to be waiting for something.

"Hey, anything I can get for you?" He shook his head lightly.

"Alright if I go on up?" He nodded his head up to F.P in his office.

"Oh, he doesn't usually like people to just go up there." He was already shaking his head as she finished talking.

"He knows I'm waiting." She nodded her head to him.

"Don't blame me if he kicks you out." She was glad that earned a small smile from the odd new serpent. She watched as he went up the stairs and was let in by F.P before the door shut behind them.

* * *

"See you later." Robyn shouted into the bar to the remaining customers and smiled as she got a series of grunts and shouts in return. She wasn't far from the bar when she saw a figure walking towards her, for a moment she felt scared and stopped walking to avoid getting closer to it, she could still see the bar behind her shoulder. Looking back at the figure she calmed instantly as she now recognised the person still walking slowly towards her, instead she felt a confusion.

"What are you doing here?" He stopped just before her, looking the same as he had the hour previously, beanie and all. He shrugged lightly.

"Came to walk you home." She laughed out loud at that.

"I've been walking independently for many years, can't see why I'd need help now." She carried on walking, past him and watched as he just fell into step beside her.

"This area can be pretty rough." He said it in a way of explanation for his actions but it didn't help with her confusion.

"I've walked home through this area by myself at this time of night for nearly a year, strangely it's the people that you think make it rough that are actually my safety here." He looked at her questioningly. "The serpents are a protective group." He nodded as if conceding a point.

"How did it go with my dad?" She shrugged lightly and smiled at his change of subject.

"Fine, he says hi back." That got her a small chuckle from him.

They walked in quiet companionship for a short time, Robyn leading the way by half a step as Jughead didn't know the way. They were nearing her house when she began talking again.

"Why are you doing this?" Jughead looked up at her, clearly having had a thought interrupted by her words.

"Hmm?" The small look of confusion in his eyes made her elaborate.

"Before this week we hadn't spoken at all, you didn't even know I existed. Why are you now suddenly seeking me out, talking to me and walking me home?" She could help the incredulous tone that seeped into her voice as she spoke about how so much had changed, she heard him laugh lightly and turned back to look at him.

"Is it such a problem that I'm talking to you?" She shook her head lightly.

"Just curious why you are." He thought about his answer for a few seconds before saying it out loud.

"You're interesting, I'm curious about you, you intrigue me." He looked round to her to see he had clearly said the wrong thing, Robyn's face now blank of emotion as she looked back at him.

"Well, I'm not interested in being a puzzle to solve for you." He watched as she walked faster and turned into a walkway towards the house that must be hers.

"I didn't mean it like that." He spoke loudly as he attempted to catch up with her before she made it inside the house.

"Yeah, you did. I'm just someone you want to figure out. You pride yourself on knowing the people around you more than they realise you do, on being so observant that you see them all so clearly. I'm just someone you haven't seen clearly yet. You just want the satisfaction of solving it, of finding out what I really am." He opened his mouth to attempt to argue against her statement but no words would come. "As I said, I'm not interested in being some puzzle for you to solve." He watched as she walked in the door and closed it behind her, he knew that he hadn't meant it as badly as she had taken it but he couldn't say what he had actually meant by it either. Instead, after a few moments of standing and watching a closed door, he walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5- Beginnings of a Friendship.**

Robyn knocked on the door heavily.

"Em, I'm heading out for breakfast. You need to be up when you get back. Becky and her mum will be here at 10 to pick you up." She smiled as she got a series of grunts from her sister within the bedroom.

She hurried down the stairs and made her way over to Pop's, it was only a few minutes walk and the diner was quiet as she arrived. She smiled at Pop as he came forward to take her order.

"Usual breakfast for me and Emma please, Pop." He nodded lightly to her as he wrote down the order on a slip of paper.

"Off out today then?"

"Emma is off to a friends for the weekend, birthday party."

"Ah, you going to the school dance then?" She couldn't help but chuckle lightly at that and recieved a small one in return from Pop, both of them knowing she had never gone to a school dance and had no intention of doing so. "If you're not busy...?" He gave her a look she had seen only a few times in the last year or so, she quirked her eyebrow in slightly.

"What do you need?" That earned another light chuckle from him.

"My waitress for tonight called in to say she couldn't come in." She sighed heavily, but smiled up at him. "Breakfast on the house and a couple of burgers tonight?"

"I'll be here." He smiled brightly at her.

"You are my saviour. It shouldn't be too busy with the dance going on anyway." She nodded to his remark, knowing it to be true. "And you can just sit and relax when there's not much to do." He turned then to get her breakfast sorted.

"I always do." She raised her voice and heard the chuckle that meant Pop had heard her statement.

* * *

"Is that food?" Robyn laughed at her sisters welcome as she walked into the house.

"Yes it's food." Emma took the bag from her hand and walked back to the kitchen, Robyn followed slightly behind.

As she entered the kitchen she saw her sister already putting the breakfasts onto plates for them.

"You excited for the party?" Her sister smiled over to her.

"Yeah, it should be great."

"Might give you some ideas for you own." She laughed as Emma rolled her eyes, she had been asking her to make a decision on her party for weeks, it was now only a week away.

"What are you doing with your time free of me?"

"Pop's needs a waitress for the evening, thought I'd help out." She looked up at the sounds of her sister laughing lightly.

"You have no idea what to do with a day off." She laughed back and couldn't help but see the truth in her sisters words.

They finished off eating their breakfasts before Robyn began clearing away the dishes.

"You'd best get ready, Becky and her mum will be here within the hour. Make sure you have everything you need for the night and morning." Emma just nodded slightly through her speech before taking off upstairs.

* * *

"Becky, Mrs Davies. Would you like to come in for a minute." She smiled brightly at both of them in her doorway, Becky was a short blonde girl, the same age as her sister and they had been friends since their first day in Riverdale.

"Sorry, we are in a little bit of a hurry. I've left Mr Davies to greet anyone who turns up while we are here." She joins in the laughter with Becky's mum, just a taller older version of the girl next to her, both set of brown eyes always alive with laughter.

"Oh, I'd best let you get back then. Here's Emma now." She turned round to see Emma approaching her with a bag on her back and the present under her arm, she gave her a quick hug before releasing her. "Call if you need me, any time." Emma nodded to her before she turned back to Becky and her mum. "Happy birthday for tomorrow, I hope you enjoy your party and your presents." Becky gave her bright smile in return before the three of them turned from the house and began walking away, she stayed there until they were all in the car and the car was out of sight before going back indoors.

* * *

Robyn had commandeered a booth so she had a place to sit when it was quiet. After a small dinner rush shortly after she has arrived, it had gotten quiet and she could hear Pop whistling away in the kitchen while he cleaned his cooking area. As she was cleaning the empty booths, all but two booths with patrons still sitting in, she heard his voice get louder and turned to talk to him.

"Getting quiter now, do you want to sit and eat?" She had been expecting the question and already had herself nodding the question.

"Thanks Pop." She made her way over to the table she had taken as her own and sat heavily.

She was facing away from the door and she gave a small chuckle as the bell rang to indicate a customer coming in just moments after she had sat down for her break. She heard Pop greet them and relaxed back into her seat, hoping it would be a take away order. She started slightly when she heard the voice answering, recognising it immediately and unable to stop herself from turning towards it. Even from the back it wasn't hard to see who it was, his signature beanie perched on his head. She turned quickly back away, hoping that he wouldn't see her there or approach her.

"Is that me?" She realised with a groan what she had in front of her, a notebook with some artwork she had been working on recently, on the top page a profile view of Jugheads face. She looked up to see him looking over her shoulder at it.

"Uhmm." She couldn't put together a coherent answer, not very many people had seen her artwork before.

"It's really good." He walked around the table and took the seat opposite her, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him. "May I?" He reached forward and took the notepad from before her without waiting for an answer and started flipping the pages, she watched as he looked at the sketches, he stopped, smiling at one in particular. He turned it to face her and she saw the image of her stood next to her sister, arms around each other and smiling. "Your sister?"

"Yeah, I give her one for every birthday. She always says she loves getting them."

"She lookes a lot like you." She shook her head lightly.

"She has more of her dad in her than me, I'm the spitting image of my mum." He looked at her oddly as she said that.

"Are you half or step siblings?" She was a little confused at the question.

"No, we're full siblings, why?" He let out a small chuckle.

"You said her dad and your mum, as if they weren't both of your parents." She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head softly.

"I didn't even realise." She let out a small chuckle and smile when he did the same from across the booth.

"So, about the another night." She dipped her head slightly, she'd felt bad about the way she had reacted to him. "Maybe intrigued was the wrong word choice." He smiled over at her.

"Maybe I over reacted slightly." He was already shaking his head at her words.

"No, you were right, those weren't words you use to describe someone you want to be friends with. I didn't mean it the way it sounded though, I just meant that I found you interesting, that I wanted to get to know you better. To be friends." She smiled at his slight rambling.

"Ok, let's forget about that night then. Friends?" She extended her hand over the table and smiled as he took it in one of his.

"Friends." They shook once before letting go. Just then Pops came over with two orders of burgers and fries and placed them on front of the two of them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- A night in conversation.**

Jughead and Robyn sat and talked for hours in Pop's, breaks in the conversation coming whenever she had to serve customers. It was quiet so that didn't happen very often, less as the evening wore on. The first time she had to do this she returned to the table to find Jughead looking at her with a questioning gaze.

"You work here too?" She laughed lightly, clearly he hadn't realised she was working when he first came to talk to her.

"Not exactly, I help out occasionally, when he needs it. The waitress that was supposed to work this shift couldn't come in, I didn't have any plans." She shrugged and saw him smile lightly in response.

"You do this often?" She shook her head lightly.

"3/4 times in the last year, since I became a waitress at the bar." He had a questioning look in his eye again.

"How did you come by working there anyway, I thought they didn't take well to strangers?" She nodded to concede the point.

"They don't. I was connected." He couldn't help the confused look that came to his face at that remark. "My parents grew up here, my mum was a serpent. They both moved to New York to go to college but she knew your dad, she's only a year older than him. My dad told me that my mum was a serpent when we first arrived here but I didn't seek them out. Your dad recognised me as soon as he saw me, I look so much like her, it was just days after we moved here." She smiled as she remembered the first days of meeting him. "He spoke to me, gave me a job as a dishwasher in the bar to start with. When he believed I could take care of myself with the serpents he put me up to waitress."

"And you can take care of yourself?" His incredulous tone made her shrug and her smile drop.

"I learnt to take care of myself pretty early, I had to." He remembered what she had said about her mum and the violence and it made him fall quiet. "Plus, they are pretty easy going once they know you. F.P claims I have them wrapped around my finger." That made him laugh heartily.

"But you're not really a serpent?" He had been looking for a way to ask the question and now the conversation had made it's way to the gang he couldn't help himself.

"No, I was never really interested in getting involved with anything with them. F.P doesn't want me involved in it either, he's strangely protective over me. I know I have the protection and friendship of the serpents but I'm not a member." He raised an eyebrow at her statement and she smiled as if she already knew the next question.

"They're ok with that?" He watched as she made an odd half nod gesture with her head.

"Yes and no, they follow what F.P wants for now but he thinks they will want me to join sooner or later, can't say I disagree." She didn't mention that he was going to be facing a similar issue.

"And will you?" She shrugged lightly.

"That depends."

"On?" She sighed lightly.

"A lot of things within the group. Would you believe me if I said your dad was trying to make them better, more legitimate?" He laughed a short homourless laugh.

"No, I wouldn't" He looked at her and saw her wide honest eyes and that statement became a little less true, strangely coming from her he could believe it a little. "Is he their leader?" She shook her head wildly.

"They don't have a leader, not really. He's respected though and liked throughout, his suggestions are usually taken by most people in the group." She looked round as the bell above the door rang. "Excuse me." He nodded to her as she got up to take the order of the two people who had come in.

When she returned to sit down after setting food in front of the new patrons and wiping down the booths that people had left recently to find Jughead flipping through her notebook again. He looked up to see her looking questioningly at him as she sat opposite him, putting a couple of plates on the table, he was distracted by the arrival of the food and put the notebook flat on the table, an image of the town as if seen from a height looking up from it. He pulled the plate closer to him to see a slice of cake.

"Chocolate?" He saw her smile and nod at his question.

"Pop insisted he would only have to get rid of it, he says its your favourite." He already had a mouthful of cake as he nodded enthusiastically making her laugh lightly again as she took a small forkful of her own portion.

"Best cake around." He exclaimed as he finished off his own and pushed his plate away. "You're good." She raised an eyebrow to that but he tapped a finger the corner of the drawing to bring her attention back to it.

"Ah, thank you." He looked back down to the drawing.

"Where did you draw this from?" She smiled as she thought of the spot.

"There's a meadow a little out of town, leads up this ridge. You can see the whole town from there, it's a nice place to go, peaceful." He smiled at her description.

"You go there a lot?" She shrugged lightly.

"Not a lot, whenever I can though." She watched as he kept his gaze on the drawing on front of him. "I can show it to you, if you want. I was thinking of going tomorrow." He smiled as he looked up to her.

"Yeah, I'd like to see it." She nodded to him.

"My sister isn't back until the evening, say we meet around 1?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you at yours."

The bell rang again then and she turned to see a blonde teenage girl enter the diner, she turned back to Jughead to see him tense slightly and she knew who the girl was. Betty Cooper turned around to face the two of them, the first sign Robyn saw of this was a shift in Jughead's expression and it made her turn to face her herself. She saw Betty had tears in her eyes, turning back to Jughead she saw his attention had been completely taken by her.

"Well there's your damsel in distress." She said it quietly enough that only he heard her words and he turned back to her with a questioning gaze.

"You like to look after people and she clearly needs that right now." She started to stand for her seat and found Betty was walking towards their table, she took the notepad as well as the couple of other items she had brought with her as she stood up fully, clearing the table for Betty to take her seat.

"Betty, Robyn. Robyn, Betty." Jughead introduced them and Robyn smiled over to Betty and nodded slightly as a way of hello before moving out of her way. Betty nodded back to her, clearly attempting to smile but the tears were now running freely down her pale cheeks.

Robyn just moved away quietly just hearing the start of their conversation, Jughead simply asking what had happened. She walked around the counter to find Pop in the kitchen.

"Just about to come out and let you know you could go. It's quiet enough now that I can manage until the next shift waitress comes in." She smiled at him in thanks.

"Thanks Pop." He smiled his usual warm smile to her.

"Thank you, you were incredibly helpful tonight, seems you kept young Jughead in company this evening too." She looked back through to the table she was just at, that now Jughead and Betty were sat at together, was completely within view of the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah, we're...friends." She still hesitated as she said the word.

"Good, that boy is so often alone, and so are you. I think you'd make good friends." She laughed at his words.

"Well thanks, Pop." He laughed heartily back at her.

"What's the joke?" She turned to see a smiling Jughead at the counter, she moved so she was opposite him on the other side of it.

"Your making me work again, I'm supposed to be going home." He looked apologetic but she could still see the smile in his eyes. "What can I get you?"

"Just a couple of milkshakes, please. Chocolate and vanilla." She nodded and made her way to the machine and heard as he shuffled to stay opposite her. He was silent as she poured the two milkshakes and turned to put them in front of him, he nodded his thanks to her and she smiled in return. "I'll see you tomorrow, 1 o'clock?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then." As he turned back to his table she turned back to see Pop smiling at the interaction between her and Jughead. She grabbed her things from the side, smiled her goodbye to Pop and walked through the diner quickly before leaving, hearing the bell ring above her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7- A Body Found.**

It was late when Robyn got back home but she couldn't sleep, instead she pottered around the kitchen baking and cleaning. Then curled up on the couch to watch tv, nothing of interest was on but it served as background noise in the quiet house. She wasn't sure how many hours she sat like that for but eventually she had to get up, the sun hadn't risen yet but it would be soon. She was restless as she paced her living room, she wasn't sure why but something was bothering her, like a tickling in the back of her mind. She decided she would go for a run, hoping it would clear her mind for the day ahead. After changing into something comfortable to run in she took off down her street, music blasting in her ears and her footfalls heavy on the ground as she set a fast pace for herself. She wasn't paying attention to the route she was taking, it was the same route she always did when she ran. The sun was just starting to come up when she was running alongside the sweetwater river and was brought out of her quiet reverie by the crowd she could see in front of her, the first person she could see, standing slightly away from the crowd, was Jughead. He seemed to sense her approach and turned to see her as she took out the earphones she had been wearing, the feeling that something was wrong was growing again.

"What's going on?" Her voice was quiet and harsh as Jughead came towards her.

"Jason's body was found last night." Her hand came up to her lips as she tried to stop the noise that escaped them.

"Robyn?!" He had of course noticed the suppressed noise and was looking at her with concern now. The obvious answer dawned on him quickly. "You knew him?" She just nodded lightly and swallowed heavily before she could answer him.

"My dad is friends with the Blossoms, I've spent time with Jason and Cheryl over the last couple of years. We weren't close but we got along." She looked back up to see Jughead with an odd look on his face. "What is it?"

"There's more you should know." She took a deep breath and nodded for him to say the rest of the news. "He didn't drown. He was found with a gunshot wound in the head." She gasped lightly at the news but contained anymore of a reaction.

"Who?" He just shrugged at her question.

She let her eyes wander as she thought of the many people who didn't get along with the Blossom family, finding it hard to believe anyone would kill Jason for hatred of him. Her eyes caught something as she rushed forward.

"Emma?" She saw her sister turn around to her voice, stood there with Becky and two other of her friends from school. Looking around she saw Becky's mum stood not far from them talking to another parent. "What are you doing here?"

"Becky's mum got the news and we came over to see what was going on." She sighed heavily at her sister.

"You shouldn't be here."

"Jason, they just pulled out the body." She nodded to her younger sister, a look of sadness on her face.

"I know." Emma suddenly looked passed her and her eyebrows raised slightly, she turned to see Jughead had followed her and was stood just behind her now. "Oh, Jughead, Emma, my little sister. Emma, Jughead, a friend from school." Emma widened her eyes at her now as if to question the silence on the topic since the beginning of school.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Jughead was the one to break the slightly tense silence between the two sisters, making Emma look up at him.

"You too." Robyn smiled as she saw her sister turn her bright smile on Jughead and he smiled softly back at her. "So will he be the friend you bring to the party?" The smile fell quickly from her lips at her sisters words now aimed at her.

"I wasn't going to." Her voice was quiet as she hoped it wouldn't be a topic of further discussion. Her sister just tutted at her before turning back to Jughead.

"I always tell her she can invite a friend to my birthday party, she insists on having a big thing every year but shes surrounded by all of my friends for a day. Seems only fair she has one of her own there. Not that she's ever taken me up on the offer." Robyn sighed heavily and was glad to see Jughead just smile slightly at her sisters words.

"And I won't." She looked over her shoulder to see Becky's mum walking back towards them. "Now get back to Becky's and enjoy the rest of the birthday party. I'll see you again tonight." Her sister seemed put out but nodded all the same, and took off with the small group back to the birthday celebration.

"So that's your sister." She met Jughead's smile with one of her own. "She's a lot like you." She shook her head lightly but her response was cut short as her attention was taken by people moving around the small clearing, seeing the Andrews' and the Coopers' among them. "Let's get out of here?" She snapped her eyes back to his and nodded lightly.

"I should get home." He nodded back to her.

"Do you mind if I come with you, you can get ready and we can go straight up to that ridge." She smiled lightly as she remembered the plans to show him that place.

"Right, yeah of course." She turned to make her way back out of the area crowded with people and he fell into step beside her.

They walked for a short while in quiet but when they were a distance from the scene he spoke to her again.

"You drew your sister very well. She seems a lot like you in more than just looks." He looked over to her to see a bright smile as she thought of her sister.

"She's..." She struggled to find the words to use. "Wilder, freer, more adventurous than me. She wants to see the world, do everything she can."

"Do you think she will?" She found herself laughing lightly.

"She will do everything she sets her mind to, she's one of the most stubborn people I know and she doesn't give up on anything. If she wants something, she will fight for it." She heard the laugh come from Jughead beside her and looked questioningly at him.

"You have a lot of pride in your voice when you talk about her, almost more of a parent than a sister." A small laugh came from her in reply.

"I've been told that before. I spent most of my childhood bringing her up, it's not the same as being a parent but it's not just being a sibling either, in the usual sense anyway." He nodded thoughtfully at her.

They were approaching her house then and they walked up to the front door, walking in she heard someone moving around and sighed heavily, earning a questioning look from Jughead. She knew it was already too late as soon as she had opened the door. She could see a shadow in the kitchen and knew they would be coming out any second.

"Hey dad, it's me." She looked to just above her shoulder to where Jughead stood. "And a friend." Jughead looked as if he was about to laugh at the situation and the expression on her face.

"Robyn, it's good you're home. I just heard news about Jason." Her dad came into view, he was a tall man and slim, not over muscular but clear definition across his arms. Unhappy expression on his face.

"I've already heard." Her dad nodded lightly at her, expecting the response and turned his attention to Jughead beside her. "This is Jughead, a friend from school. We won't be here long."

"Your F.P Jones's boy?" Jughead nodded slightly, confused why he knew that about him. He saw his expression change to a bright smile, the same as he had seen on his youngest daughter. "I knew your dad when he was the same age as you, you look the spitting image of him." He put his hand out and Jughead took it and shook it strongly. "Don't leave on my account, I'm heading out to the Blossoms, paying my respects."

"We had plans to go out anyway, Emma is away until tonight. She knows about Jason too, make sure to send along our respects too." Her dad nodded to her.

"Of course. I'll be back later." He gave her a brief side hug before making his way to the front door. "Oh, and the brownies are delicious, I may have helped myself to a couple." She smiled as her dad disappeared behind the closing door.

"Brownies?" Her smile grew to a light laugh at Jughead's question and she nodded for him to follow her to the kitchen where brownies, flapjacks and cookies all lay on plates from her baking the previous night.

"Help yourself." Jughead looked at her with an odd expression. "I bake when I can't sleep and I couldn't last night so we have plenty of baked goods now, I'll box some up to take with us to the ridge too."

"They all look great." He smiled at her brightly.

"Hopefully taste just as good. I'm just going to jump in the shower quickly and get myself sorted to go, you ok here for a few minutes?" She laughed at the grumbling noise that came from around the brownie that was crammed into Jughead's mouth already and took it as a yes as she took off upstairs to get ready for going out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8- A Long Walk.**

Jughead had sampled all three of the different baked goods in the kitchen while he waited for Robyn to come back downstairs. He heard the shower start running and stop a few minutes afterwards, shortly after he heard the footsteps on the stairs and swallowed the end of a cookie that was in his mouth as he saw her enter the kitchen. She had changed out of her running gear, was now in loose fitted trousers and a baggy jumper with sleeves that hung passed her hands, she held them bunched in her fisted so they weren't hanging loose as she walked, her hair tied back into a ponytail but small wisps of hair already coming loose at the front around her face. She was smiling at him as she walked into the room.

"I see you're enjoying them?" She nodded to the food set out on the kitchen island in front of him and he smiled in response.

"Yeah, you are a seriously good cook." That made her laugh as she moved around the kitchen to the fridge to his side.

"I was thinking of making up some food to take with us?" He nodded lightly to her in agreement. "Can you go into the living room and look in the corner beside the chair on the far side, there should be a picnic basket, it's the perfect size." He smiled as he got up.

"Yeah, I'll see if I can find it." He could hear her rustling in the kitchen as he made his way to the chair she had mentioned and looked to find the basket. It took him a couple of minutes but he was soon pulling out a basket with a handle and small flaps that opened on either side, he laughed lightly at the classic looking picnic basket and took it back into the kitchen. Robyn noticed his expression and understood the reason for it immediately.

"My sister picked it, she wanted one that looked like the ones you see on tv or movies." She shook her head lightly but he still saw the small smile that came to her lips whenever she spoke of her sister.

Looking around the room he saw that she had already boxed up plenty of the brownies, flapjacks and cookies into small tupperware tubs and was currently making sandwiches on the counter side.

"Any preference for sandwich fillings?" He was shaking his head until he realised she wasn't looking at him.

"No, I'll eat anything." He heard her small laugh as she went back to making them.

It wasn't long before a few were made and put into their own tupperware for putting into the basket, he watched her turn back to fridge to put things back inside, she seemed to look in thoughtfully after she had done.

"How do you feel about pork pies?" She looked round to his reaction and he nodded softly. "And sausage rolls?" He nodded again and she smiled brightly as she took them out of the fridge.

She slid the basket closer to herself and he watched as she packed everything inside with practiced moves, as if she did this often. She seemed to sense his gaze on her as he looked up to meet the question in his eyes, she smiled as she understood once again.

"My sister loves picnics, we go on them during the summer whenever we can." He smiled at her.

"You two are really close?" She nodded lightly.

"She's my best friend, always has been." He smiled back at her. "Are you close with your sister?"

"Yeah, we're close. We talk over the phone every week." He saw a sad smile on her lips as he looked back up at her.

"You miss her?" He nodded to the question. "Have you thought of visiting them?" He honestly hadn't thought about it until she said the words, when they left his mum didn't seem like she wanted visitors.

"I'm not sure they would want me to." His voice was quiet and he was surprised to hear a snort-like noise come from her, she was smiling at him again.

"I find that hard to believe." He smiled slightly back at her but didn't say any more on the subject.

Robyn lifted the basket from the kitchen island, it wasn't too heavy as she walked around to where Jughead stood.

"Are ready to go?" He nodded to her and fell into step beside her as they walked out of the house.

"Do you mind if we take a small detour, I want to pick something up?"

"Don't mind at all, we've got plenty of time."

They walked quietly through the town, she realised she had no idea where they were going to get whatever Jughead wanted to pick up. She didn't question the route that he picked out until they were leaving the residental area and going towards the drive-in theatre close to the south-side of town. He stopped outside and turned to look at her briefly before leading them inside the small hut from where the movie reel was controlled, she followed him inside to see the equipment to one side and a large couch taking up much of the rest of the room. She noticed some odd pieces of clothing across one side of it and a sleeping bag on the other. Jughead went to the equipment and picked up a small bag and slung it over his shoulder before turning to look her again, taking in her expression.

"Jughead, is this where you're sleeping?" She couldn't help the incredulous tone that was in her voice though she attempted to. He sighed heavily at the question.

"I work here." He lead her back out of the building and continued to walk back through the town.

"That isn't an answer." She lead him around a corner, towards the ridge that was their destination. He sighed again.

"Yes, I'm staying there." She shook her head lightly but didn't say anymore on it yet.

She lead the way as they walked as he didn't know the way, they were quiet as they walked now. It wasn't a long walk but harder as the slope got steeper leading up to the ridge.

"It's a little tougher here but it doesn't last for long and then it flattens out." He smiled back at her when she looked over at him.

They were walking through trees and they had to step over multiple roots. Unfortunately Robyn's clumsy nature caused her foot to get caught under one and very nearly send her flying and leave her sprawled across the floor, she felt grateful that Jughead was with her as his reflexes were quick enough that he managed to take hold of her arm fast enough to stop that from happening and get her back upright.

"You ok?" She nodded as she took stock of how she felt after the close call.

"Thank you, for catching me." He chuckled lightly at her statement.

"That's quiet alright, lucky I saw you falling before you were down." She laughed lightly back.

They continued walking until she slowed her pace slightly, the ground beginning to level out.

"Here we are, just up ahead." He nodded to her as the trees thinned around them.

She smiled as she heard a small gasp come from Jughead beside her as the trees opened completely to show a large meadow high about the town, wildflowers still scattering the floor with bright colours and from where they stood they could only see a blue sky above where the ground falls away into the ridge she had discribed. He looked over to her and she was glad to see the bright smile on his lips, she nodded towards the ridge and walked forwards as he followed her. As they neared the edge, the town of Riverdale came into view.

"Looks exactly as you drew it." His voice was quiet as he looked down on the town. "It's amazing here." He turned away from the town to look at the meadow. She nodded as she turned as well.

She walked towards the centre and sat down, the basket set down next her. He smiled and came to join her, he lay down flat beside her and she looked down to see a peaceful smile on his lips as he closed his eyes against the sun.

"So, what did you bring?" He looked up at her with a surprised gaze, as if jogged out of some thought.

"Hmm?" She smiled down at him and then nodded to the small bag that was still settled against his hip. "Oh, that." She nodded and watched as he sat up and took the bag from his shoulder, opened it and took out a large camera.

"You take pictures?" He shrugged lightly and looked over at her with an odd expression on his face. "Can I see?" She reached with her hand to gesture to the camera and smiled when he put it in her hands, looking at it she realised she had no idea how to use it or see what photographs were already on it. She looked up to see Jughead smiling at her in humour.

"Come here?" She passed the camera back and he pushed a few buttons and passed it back to her with it's screen showing a picture now. "Just push this button to go through them." She nodded as she looked at the camera. She looked throught the pictures slowly, taking in the images.

"These are amazing." She looked up to see him looking anxiously down at her. "I had no idea." He chuckled at that, his expressioning shifting from anxious to smiling.

"There you were thinking you knew everything about me?" She smiled then.

"Not everything." She passed the camera back to him and he reached out to take hold of it. "When did you learn to do it?" He shrugged lightly.

"I started doing it a few years ago."

"Not many people have seen though?" She guessed seeing the nervousness of showing her.

"Nobody actually, you're the first person I've shown any photos I've taken." She was surprised by that and it clearly showed on her face as he laughed lightly at her.

"Thank you for showing me." She meant it, she knew how difficult it was to show people her art for the first time. He just nodded to her with a small smile still on his lips.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9- A Deeper Conversation.**

Jughead looked across to Robyn, laying on the grass next to him now, eyes closed against the bright sun shining down at them and a small smile on her lips. He was surprised as she rolled her body to face him and opened her eyes to meet his, her smile brightened.

"Feeling better?" He didn't think before he asked the question and instantly regretted bringing her thoughts back to earlier that day, he was glad that her smile didn't falter and she just nodded slightly.

"I'm always calmer being here." Her eyes were bright as they looked into his own. "I wasn't very close to Jason, it was more of a shock than anything else."

"You don't have to explain your reaction, someone died, it's ok to be upset by that." She nodded lightly, it was obvious to him that she didn't show her emotions easily. "I didn't know you knew the Blossoms at all, you didn't exactly run in the same circles at school." He was surprised to hear her laugh lightly at his observation.

"They both have their friends at school and don't venture past those circles, in public at least, they knew me through our parents businesses and long friendship. Even when I was with Chuck, they'd act like they had no contact with me outside of school hours." She saw the confused look on Jughead's face as she looked over at him. "Like you said, we don't run in the same circles, Cheryl in particular liked to make sure that was clear to everyone."

"Even when you did?" He watched as she made a shrugging gesture at his question.

"I never really fit in with that group, most of them couldn't pick me out of a line-up now and I was with Chuck for over two months." He was a little surprised by her statement but decided not to question it further.

"You were with him for a while." He couldn't think of anything else to say to fill the silence but he realised quickly how it had sounded as Robyn laughed brightly next to him.

"By Chuck's standard it was practically a life time." He joined in with the laughter.

"He's not exactly known for his long interest in anyone." She shook her head lightly at him then. "He must have been very intersted by you?" The phrase came out a question.

"I guess he found me intruging." He was glad that she added a laugh to the end of her statement to stop him thinking the phrases still caused tension between them.

"Why did it end?" He sensed the sudden change in her as she sat upright and her shoulders hunched as if to physically block the question. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." He sat up next to her, she seemed to shake herself slightly and turned back to face him with a forced smile.

"No it's fine, it was just a... complicated end." Making eye contact with her he saw an odd expression that she was still trying to hide with her overly bright smile.

"You don't have to do that, you know?" Her expression turned to confusion. "You don't have to hide your emotions from me." A sad smile came to her lips.

"Old habits." The words were quiet but he heard them easily enough and understood how difficult it was for her to show her emotions to anyone, to trust anyone.

There was a small silence as Jughead watched Robyn pull the picnic basket towards her and began taking tupperware out, first came the sandwiches and she passed one to him. He smiled his thanks as he took hold of it and watched as she pulled at a corner of her own.

"Was everything ok last night, with Betty?" He could tell she was trying to bring the conversation away from herself and he let his mind wander back to the previous evening.

"Not exactly but I think she will be ok." She nodded lightly to him.

"What did Archie do this time?" He looked at her with a look so full of surprise that it made her laugh. "It's not exactly easy to miss, anyone can see how she sees him and how he doesn't see her the same way. I've seen him date other girls and her reaction to it, I'm guessing he did something last night that got her upset?"

"You don't miss much do you?" She shrugged lightly to him. "Yeah, he did something stupid at the worst timing he could have. Typical Archie." She kept a questioning gaze on him until he expanded. "The new girl Veronica?" She nodded as she turned away.

"Oh." She shook her head lightly. "Here I was thinking those two would be friends."

"Those two both thought so too." She looked at him then.

"You think they'll reconcile?" He nodded, not surprised that she had read his expression.

"Betty is very forgiving, she will somehow manage to put this behind her." She nodded to his explaination.

"And you?" The questioning look he gave her prompted her to continue her question. "Are you forgiving?" He shrugged lightly. "You'll reconnect with Archie?" He breathed out a soft laugh as he once again realised how observant she was.

"I imagine we will, we've been friends for years." She smiled and nodded to him. He could see she was burning to ask him what happened but she was restraining herself and he didn't want to delve into that right now.

He stood up and noticed her start slightly at his sudden movement, he looked back to apologise but she had already turned away. He moved closer to the ridge and saw the perfect opportunity, he reached into the small bag at his hip and took out the large camera again, this time turning it towards the view. He was on a knee looking at the view when he felt her gaze on him, he stopped himself losing his focus as he took the snaps he wanted before turning back to her. He was mildly surprised that she had got a pad and pencil out and her hand was now speeding across the page. He didn't want to interrupt her so he went to the other side of the basket and began taking out some of the tupperware holding the desserts, he laughed quietly as Robyn held out her hand for one without looking over at him, he handed over a brownie and lay back as he watched her work. He found himself watching the concentration on her face as her pencil ran across the page.

"I can feel you staring." He was jogged from his thoughts and he shook his head lightly.

"I'm sorry." She looked at him then with a small smile.

"It's alright." She closed the pad on her lap and turned more fully to him. "I was rude." He was already shaking his head lightly.

"No, I don't mind. I started it." She laughed lightly at that. "Is anyone else in your family artistic?"

"My dad is an interior designer, my sister dabbles in everything but never shows me anything she does." He smiled as he saw the usual smile come to her face whenever she mentioned her sister.

"She's not happy with anything she does?" She laughed lightly at that.

"Is any artist?" He nodded as he knew the truth in that. "She just isn't ready to show me yet, I think when she finds something she loves doing she will show me."

"She shares everything with you." It wasn't a question but she nodded anyway.

"I don't pry, I understand the need for privacy but she tells me everything eventually and I tell her everything too."

"It's a good relationship you have with her." She nodded lightly. He remembered other point she made. "I didn't know your dad was a designer."

"Yeah, Baker's Interior Design, he brought a branch here when we moved." He nodded as he recognised the name he had seen on a building in the town. "What about your family, any other artists?"

"JB likes to draw, she always has." She nodded lightly to him.

"Your sister." She hadn't phrased it as a question but he nodded to her anyway.

"Jellybean." He laughed lightly at the expression that passed her face. "It's a nickname, her real name is Forsythia." That made her laugh.

"I don't blame her for the change." He shook his head as he chuckled along with her. "Where did Jellybean come from?"

"That was me, they were my favourite thing to eat when I was little." She smiled at him reliving the memory of the nickname. "Better than the origins of my nickname. My ears were particularly big for my head when I was a kid." She laughed again at that.

"Well, you grew into them well enough." He joined in with her light laughter.

"Thanks." He heard her snort at his response.

He watched as she dug back into the basket to get more food out for the two of them. Both of them reclined slightly and sampled all the snacks they brought with them. The quiet was comfortable and Jughead found he didn't need to fill it with conversation and so it stretched on for a while before he got his camera back out to flip through the pictures he had taken of the scenery. He turned to see Robyn now laying back with her eyes closed once again, head turned slightly towards him and a small smile on her lips, as if she sensed his gaze on her she widened her smile but didn't open her eyes. He turned the camera towards her and snapped a picture of her lounging there, the sound made her open her eyes and her eyebrows draw together as if she knew what picture he had taken.

"What did you just do?" He just smiled and shrugged as he turned his attention to his camera and the picture. He didn't notice as she moved closer to look over his shoulder. "Urgh, I'm not photogenic at all. I could have warned you of that before you tried." It made him laugh as she spoke.

"You seem photogenic enough to me." She raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything else. He surprised her by turning the camera back to her and snapping another photo as she moving back away from him.

"Cut it out." She swung out to tap him lightly on his shoulder but was laughing as she did so.

"If you can draw me, I can photograph you." That just brought a small shocked look to her face before both of them chuckled lightly and she sat back looking defeated in her argument. He didn't take any more photos, instead just looked through the previous ones. "Do you ever wear your hair loose?" He seemed to jog her out of what ever thoughts she was having as she looked back over to him and took a moment to answer.

"No, I don't really. Not for years." His confused look must have prompted an explaination as she continued. "My mum used to insist I wear it down all the time, would never let me put it up. Once when I was 5 she found out I put it up while I was with friends and she cut it short, and uneven so I couldn't put it up. I guess it's a way to rebel against it now. I've worn it loose a couple of times, for special occassions but very rarely."

"That's horrible." She was still smiling lightly.

"All a long time ago now." He couldn't tell if she was truly unfazed with saying the words or if she was just hiding her emotions from him again, before he could figure it out a noise came from somewhere. Robyn put her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone which was emitting the noise. "I didn't realise the time, I've got to get back to meet Emma." He nodded as she began moving to stand up and gather the items from around them. He stood up next to her and fell into step with her as they left the meadow.

They walked in silence for a short distance but he noticed she was tense as if she had something on her mind, he didn't press but didn't have to wait long either. He noticed they were going back the route they went in the morning, past the drive-in theatre and this was when she sighed deeply.

"Why are you staying there?" She stopped in the street and nodded towards the drive-in as if he wouldn't know what she referring to.

"It's comfortable enough." His voice was quiet and she shook her head to his statement.

"Look, we've got a spare room." He was already shaking his head at the imposition he would be making but she spoke over it. "It wouldn't be for long, just until we can find something else. My dad won't allow me to take you in for much longer than a couple of weeks but I let you stay here either."

"I can't." He shook his head again and heard her sigh heavily.

"Fine but promise me something?" He nodded with a questioning look. "See if you can find somewhere better, if you're still stuck here in a week a so, then you'll reconsider and stay in my spare room?"

"Ok." He nodded at the reasonable sounding terms.

"And come to dinner with me and Emma, I'm sure she's dying to meet you properly since this morning." His questioning look came back.

"Are you sure?" She nodded lightly to him.

"Of course, I always cook tons anyway." She didn't wait for an answer as she began walking towards her house and after a moment he fell into step beside her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10-** **Change of plans.**

The house was quiet when she led Jughead back inside, she was glad her dad hadn't made it back and she was fully expecting to get a message from him in the next couple of hours saying he wouldn't be back at all tonight.

"Make yourself comfortable." she nodded towards the living room as she made her way to the kitchen to grab drinks for them, she laughed lightly when she returned to see him still stood awkwardly in the doorway.

He turned to the sound of her laugh and realised how he must of looked, waiting for her to return before going in to the living room.

"I'm serious, sit anywhere." he nodded to her then and made his way to the couch and sat down on one end, he heard a scoff and looked up again to see her shaking her lightly as if to dispel the thoughts in her head.

He watched as she went into action, first passing him a can of soda and then turning to sort out the picnic basket they had taken. They had eaten most of the food in there but she handed him the box of flapjacks that still had a few left in, he look them and put them on the couch next to him.

"Here, find something good." she passed him the remote control as she went back to the kitchen to empty out the rest of it.

He busied himself looking through the tv guide as he heard her rustling around putting things away. She returned after a few minutes and bent passed the chair to return the basket to its place. She looked up to the screen to see he was still looking for something. She sat heavily on the other end of the couch to him and curled her feet up beneath her.

"We have Netflix too." she gestured for the remote which he passed over willingly and she flicked it over to Netflix and passed it back. "We should have about half an hour or so until Emma's back and she's probably been eating junk food all day at the party so we can wait for a while before doing dinner?" She had phrased it as a question and was hoping for a response but Jughead seemed to be in a world of his own. "Jughead?"

"I'm sorry, I was a little out of it." he looked over at her with a small smile after shaking his head lightly, out of whatever thoughts he was in.

"It's alright, everything ok?" He was already nodding in reassurance.

"Yeah, of course." he turned his attention back to the tv and found a sitcom on the continue watching page, one that he had seen a few episodes of and had enjoyed, he looked over to Robyn to get confirmation and saw her frowning slightly at him. His gaze seemed to make her realise she was staring and looked to the screen.

"Yeah sure." she watched as he set up the next episode of the show he'd picked and was glad to see him sit and back and relax a little more. "Is something wrong, you seem... uncomfortable?"

Jughead smiled over her then, saw a look of slight concern on her face as she struggled to find the word to describe how he was acting.

"Sorry." he attempted to find the words to describe what was going on in his head. "I'm not usually one to be invited around anyones house, except Archie and Betty a little when we were growing up, and that's different, I've known them for years." He looked back up to see a look a confusion on her face.

"I'm not well versed on social etiquette, should I have waited longer before the dinner invite?" he could hear the humour in her voice but also the real question behind it.

"I'm not the one to ask that question to." he answered with his own tone of humour before becoming more serious. "But I'm glad you did." They smiled at each other briefly then and he felt himself relax a little more.

"So opinions on dinner, you ok to wait a little, I'm not sure how much junk food Emma would have been eating all day?" He realised this must have been the question he missed earlier when he'd been lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah, that's fine. We've been snacking most of the afternoon anyway."

She nodded in response and reached to the open the flapjacks on the couch and offer one to him, he took one without hesitation and saw she took one for herself, leaving one in the box, he assumed for Emma when she returned.

They watched the rest of the program in relative silence, laughing occassionally and at one point he shared a small anecdote which the show had reminded him of, he smiled when it made her laugh brightly. He turned to her when her phone started ringing, he could tell she was expecting by how quickly she picked up.

"Hey." there was a pause as the other person spoke. "I can't tonight, I'm with my sister." by the frown on her face he could see this wasn't the phone she had been expecting. "No, I'll come by when I can, not sure time that will be. Just make sure no one goes up there." she sent a small glance his way as if looking for a reaction in him, there was only confusion as he couldn't work out the conversation. "Yeah, fine." she hung up then but kept the phone on her lap.

"Everything ok?" she looked at him with an odd expression before sighing lightly.

"Yeah everything is fine, just work." He nodded lightly at that.

"Do you need to go?" he still couldn't work out the look on her face.

"At some point, but they can wait for now." she looked away from him then as of not wanting to continue to conversation.

"You can go, I can wait here for Emma to get back." he wasn't sure what had made him say the words but he realised they made sense, Robyn was looking in shock at him when he met her gaze. "You'll enjoy the evening better if it's out of the way and I really don't mind."

He could see she was wrestling with the idea when her phone rang again, this tine she smiled at the caller ID before answering.

"Hey Em." there was a pause again as Emma spoke. "Yeah, I'm at home now but work just called." another pause and something that made Robyn laugh lightly. "Jughead is actually here, I brought him over for dinner." this time he scoffed at whatever the response was and cast a glance his way. "How would you feel if I left for a few minutes and Jughead was here when you got back, I won't be long and can do dinner when I get back." another response that made her laugh and nod to herself. "Put on Mrs Davies for me?" He watched as Robyn took a deep breath as if steeling herself for something. "Hello, Mrs Davies." a small pause. "Yes I'm well thank you, I just wanted to let you know I wouldn't be in when you dropped Emma off but a friend of mine will be here. His name is Jughead and he's a friend from school, I won't be out long and Emma has met him before, she fine to be left with him." there was another pause as Mrs Davies responded to that. "Yes that's fine. Another thing, just quickly, I was hoping to do this in person but I think I'll miss you." Robyn took a deep breath before continuing. "You know that I have no issue with you taking Emma out with you during her visits but I need to know when they happen, coming across her this morning, at a crime scene when I had no knowledge she was even out of your house, that isn't something that should be happening." there was a pause as Mrs Davies spoke. "And I understand that but you can see where it could be cause for concern. Look, I trust you to look after my sister and that hasn't changed but if a parent of one of those other children had seen them out there, they would have caused a much bigger issue about this." another small pause. "In future I'd like to know if she leaves the house, she's under your care when I leave her there but I need to know where she is." there was another pause and this time she was nodding her head lightly. "Thank you, tell Emma I'll see her soon." He watched as she hung up the phone and exhaled heavily as if the conversation had been hard to get through.

"I didn't realise you were so upset about Emma being there this morning." he could feel the confused look on his face as he looked at her, she turned to make eye contact with him and smiled lightly.

"I'm not really, it's more the principle of it, if I leave my sister with someone and expect her to be in one place for the time with them then I expect to be told if there's a change." He was reminded how much more like a parent than a sibling Robyn was to her sister "As I told her, there are a lot of strict parents out there who would have been a lot worse about it had they seen."

He saw her logic and nodded to her.

"I didn't say you were wrong, I just wasn't expecting it." She smiled at him now.

"Are you sure you don't mind taking her in?" He laughed lightly.

"After that tirade I'm not sure I'm up to the job." She heard the humour in his voice but looked at him questioningly.

"I can stay if you'd rather." He rolled his eyes at her now.

"God, I was kidding. Go, I'm fine. Promise."

She nodded to him as she got up from her seat.

" I won't be long." She called out as she headed to thr door, she turned to him nodding and smiling at her, she returned the smile and left the house, the smile falling from her lips at the thought of where she was going.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Bonding.**

Jughead had been alone for close to 10 minutes when he heard a car outside, he had been sat idling through his phone as he wasn't sure how long the wait was going to be. He listened as the car stopped and stood up, assuming it would be Robyn's sister returning, he made his way to the door and reached it just as a hand knocked. He opened it to see the young girl he had seen early that morning and a woman he assumed was Mrs Davies.

"Hi, Mrs Davies?" the woman nodded lightly to him, an odd look in her eye. "I'm Jughead, Robyn said to expect me here instead of her?" he hadn't meant it to come out as a question, he knew she had told her because he was sat behind her when she had.

"Yes she did." the odd look was still there, as if unsure it was the best idea to leave the child with him, he felt his anger slowly rising and she still made no move to let Emma come in.

"Hey Jughead." Emma just smiled brightly, and made to come into the house, a hand on her shoilder stopped her moving any more, he noticed the confused look on Emma's face as Mrs Davies stopped her.

"Maybe I should come in with you, until your sister is home." it wasn't a question as much as a statement but he noticed Emma's eyes suddenly flashed in anger of her own.

"That's fine Mrs Davies, he's a friend of my sisters and she said I was ok to wait with him." he could hear her voice had a forced brightness to it but something about it made Mrs Davies back off.

"Very well, if you're sure." she cast one more skeptical look towards Jughead. "Tell your sister I said hello."

Emma just nodded before walking inside the house and passed Jughead, standing behind him as if to make a point.

"Bye Mrs Davies." and with that she closed the door.

"Well she certainly doesn't like me." he heard Emma's light laugh, she was already walking away from him towards the kitchen.

"She doesn't like anybody and you don't exactly look like you run in the same circles as her." suddenly she flinched slightly and turned to him with a small blush on her cheeks. "No offense."

"Very much none taken." he had to laugh at the expression on her face and how relieved she looked when he responded.

"Drink?" she continued on her way to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looked over her shoulder back at him, it struck him just how much she looked like her sister as she did that.

"Got, thanks." He walked back into the living room and sat on the couch as he had before.

"So...-" he turned as Emma sat heavily on the other end of the couch and curled her feet up underneath herself, the exact way Robyn did not long before, it made him smile again to see the similarity. "You and my sister?"

"Hmm?" he wasn't entirely sure where this conversation was going. She raised her eyebrows at him as of expecting on him to expand. "She seems great, we are becoming pretty good friends, I think." Emma chuckled lightly at his response.

"Yeah she plays her cards pretty close to her chest, but she brought you here which means she likes you." she smiled at him then. "And if she likes you then that's good enough for me."

He wasn't really sure how to respond to that but it made him smile.

"She's been through a lot though, especially lately." her eyes turned harder as she looked away from him. "Everything with Chuck..."

"Yeah she mentioned." she turned and looked at him with an expression of complete shock on her face.

"She told you about him?" he shook his head lightly.

"Not everything, said it was a complicated break up though." that earned a scoff for Emma.

"Not the word I'd use." she had said the words quietly but he'd managed to catch them.

"What word would you use?" he couldn't help but ask the question.

"Awful." there was a pause and then she turned to look at him. "I've seen Robyn in pain but not more than the day they ended, not that I remember anyway."

"What happened?" he hadn't wanted to ask but it came out anyway.

"That isn't my story to tell, she will tell you when she wants you to know, if she wants you to know." he nodded, expecting the answer. "Just know that she's been through a lot, I don't want her to get hurt again." he suddenly saw where she was going with this.

"Oh, me and Robyn are friends, but thats it." she raised an eyebrow to him again.

"Sure you are." she gave him a small smile before continuing. "I wasn't actually talking about that but it's interesting you thought so." she took a deep breath before continuing. "Look, she isn't one for bringing friends over, for even really having friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you and her are becoming friends, but if you hurt her in any way, shape or form, I will come for you and will hurt you. I may look small but I'm stronger than I look and I know how take down someone twice my size."

He waited to see of there was any more to come from her but she seemed to have run out of steam now that her message was given.

"I'm not going to hurt her." his voice was quiet but she turned nodded to him, the smile back on her face. "And I believe you, that you're stronger than you look."

That got the response he wanted a she laughed brightly at him.

After that he passed the remote control to her and watched as she carried on the sitcom from earlier. She was more talkative that her sister and he felt himself relax in her company, she helped herself to the remaining flapjack in the box while watching.

"I see Robyn was stressed last night?" she had asked the question as she'd finished the flapjack, he wasn't entirely sure how to respond to it and just looked at her slightly confused, gaining a light laugh from her. "She bakes when she's stressed." the memory of her telling him that cane back to him then.

"Oh yeah, she said. Didn't say what about though, just that she couldn't sleep and baking helps when she stressed or anxious about something." Emma nodded to him before shaking her head lightly.

"Probably just that I was away, she always says she worries about me when I'm not here." he smiled as he saw her lips turn into a bright smile at talking about her sister.

"She looks after you a lot?" he already knew the answer but was interested to see how she talked about the situation.

"Yeah, its basically always just been me and her. My dad pops in and out and I love spending time with him, but he doesn't look after me like she does. It's been this way for years though, I can't remember a time that it was different." she turned to smile at him then, the kind of smile that could light up a room.

"You don't remember anything before your mum left?" she thought about for minute before answering.

"Bits and pieces I guess, I can remember her face and her hair. Robyn looks so much like her. I can remember her voice, the way she'd shout, I remember her sleeping a lot. Well, then I thought just sleeping, now I know it was more passed out from the drinking. I remember Robyn protecting me, getting hurt but making sure I never did." there was a sad smile on her face now. "She's always been protecting me really."

He placed a hand gently on her arm as a way of comfort and smiled when she squeezed it with her other hand. She shook her head lightly and turned to face him fully.

"So, how exactly did you guys start talking?"

After that the conversation was lighter as they talked about school and friends, movies they liked and music they listened to.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12-** **Cleaning up.**

Robyn had hurried to the bar, and briefly greeted the bartender and she entered.

"He's upstairs and still pretty out of it, I checked on him a few minutes ago." She nodded as she passed him

"Thanks, I'll get him out of here."

She hurried up the stairs and nodded to Red who had been keeping watch at the door to stop anyone going in. Inside the office she found a scene she had been expecting but still angered and upset her. She went to the side of the slumped man laying across the desk.

"F.P!" He stirred slightly at her incessant shaking, attempting to swat her off but she managed to dodge the attempts and continue.

"Urgh." He had finally moved upright and had felt the pain for it. "What?" She could tell me was angry and probably not just at being woken up.

"Coming to take you home, get your ass up." She knew there weren't many people who could get away with talking to him like that but also knew he was used to her treating him this way when it was needed.

He gave her his well known death glare which she returned with one of her own. Eventually he was the one to give up, the headache getting the better of him as he sighed and groaned again.

"What have you had?" He shook his head in answer, she sighed heavily, either he didn't know when he had it or he'd forgotten by now. "F.P, have you had anything other than alcohol?" That got her the look of anger again but only for a second before he shook his head. At least that was something, she usually got that answer but she still had to ask.

She tried getting him up then but he was basically dead weight and not helping her efforts at all.

"Come on F.P, you need to get up, I can't carry you by myself." That seemed to spur him on and he finally started helping her.

It still wasn't easy, he was a grown man that couldn't walk by himself and putting a lot of his weight on her but she managed to get him out of the office and down the ramp coming down the back of the bar rather than going down the stairs and through the front.

"Mucurr." His word were slurred but coupled up with his hand jumping suddenly towards the parking lot she was able work out that his car was here and their best option to get him home.

"Keys?" She suddenly had to hold onto him a lot tighter as he started digging around his pockets, coming up after a couple of minutes with his keys, she took then from him and slowly they made their way to his car.

It seemed the cool air had managed to sober him up a little and it became easier to get him to the car and in. It was only a 2 minute drive back to his trailer but better than the alternative of half dragging him back, he was silent as she pulled up outside.

"Stay." She said it in a tone that meant he had no choice in the matter and was glad to see he had stayed still as she walked around to help him get out.

"I did a stupid thing." She sighed, he usually got talkative by the time she got him home like this but most of what he said drunk was gibberish. "A bad thing."

"What bad thing did you do?" He was already shaking his head, unwilling to elaborate, she was focussed more on getting him onto the couch and laying him down.

"I shouldn't have done it." Having finally managed to get him laying down she went to the kitchen area to get water and start the coffee machine.

"I'm sure it will work out fine, you can get passed it." She was trying to think what he could have done but it could have been any number of things, the serpents still weren't as clean as they could be.

"Not this, can't get passed this." He was hiding his face in his hands making it hard to hear him, she reached up and pulled them down.

"Hey, that wasn't the deal. You can and will get passed this. I'm here to help." She was suprised by the fear in his eyes as he looked up at her then.

"No, you stay away from this. You hear me?" Suddenly he was a lot less slurred and she could tell he was seriously scared about whatever this is.

"Fine." his outburst seemed to take all the energy out of him as she passed him the water and urged him to drink. "You promised you would back on your feet and you will. Whatever this is, you can tell me or not, it makes no difference, but you will get passed it because you have to."

She saw him nod slightly then and finished the glass of water, she stood back up to refill it and fill a cup of the coffee that had brewed. She handed that to him and watched as he drank quickly despite the heat.

"I gotta go, you ok?" He nodded silently again and she placed the water on the small coffee table. "You need anything?" He just shook his head and winced as it hurt.

"Thanks." She just smiled at him before turning away. "You'll take care of my boy, wontcha?" Her smile dropped as she turned back to him, suddenly going cold.

"What's this got to do with Jughead?" He gently shook his head again. "F.P?!" He looked up at her then and sighed.

"Nothing, just look out for him." She watched as he rolled over then, clearly it was her time to leave and she wasn't sure how much meant anything at all or that he'd remember in the morning.

She checked her phone as she exited the trailer and found she'd only been gone just over half an hour. She sent a quick text to the bartender to let him know F.P was home and shouldn't be back before picking up her pace to walk back home.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13-** **A Change of Plan.**

As Robyn approached the house she slowed her pace and made her breathing return to normal so it wouldn't draw concern. She turned her thoughts to how she was going to broach the subject of the evening with Jughead, she knew she would have to have a conversation with him. She entered the house to sounds of laughter and closed the door as quietly as she could as she followed the noise into the living room, she stood in the doorway watching her sister laugh heartily and Jughead beside her laughing lightly along. Suddenly Jughead looked up, the laughter was cut short and she saw a small blush creep onto his cheeks, she was glad to see his smile remained bright as he met her eye. Emma, seeing Jughead's movement, turned around and jumped up when she saw her, they hugged tightly for a moment before pulling back apart.

"Do I need to say it?" Robyn made her voice slighty harder as she looked down at her sister, it didn't have the desired effect as Emma just rolled her eyes at her.

"No, but you're going to anyway." Emma made her way round her and towards the kitchen, leaving Jughead slightly awkwardly sat on the couch.

"Damn straight. You have a phone for a reason." She followed her sister into the kitchen and watched her attempting to busy herself in the fridge, avoiding the seriousness of the conversation.

"I know." The silence dragged on, Robyn waiting until her sister looked at her, eventually she turned and made eye contact with her.

"You are supposed to call, or at least message me when things change." She watched as Emma nodded slowly at her. "I expect contact in the future."

"I promise." She pulled her sister in for another hug then.

"Good. Now what do you want for dinner?" The harder edge had left her voice now, she trusted her message had been received. "Jughead?" She raised her voice so he would be able to hear in the living room.

"You called?" He was smiling as he entered the kitchen.

"Thoughts on dinner?" Emma was the one to ask as she started looking throught the cupboards.

"Anything." Robyn couldn't help rolling her eyes at the response from him.

"Thank you, for the least helpful thing you could have answered." She smiled as that earned a small laugh from him.

She opened the fridge in the hopes of finding some inspiration on what to cook.

"Whoa." She turned at the sudden noise from Jughead.

Emma had climbed onto the counter to look into the higher shelves and Jughead was stood behind her with his hands up as if expecting her to fall any second.

"Emma, be careful up there before you give Jughead a heart attack." Jughead turned to look at her then, a small smile on his lips.

"This happens a lot?" He had lowered his hands now but still remained close as if still cautious.

"At least a few times a week." He chuckled lightly.

"Ah, do one of your pasta bakes." Emma had grabbed a jar of sauce and looked round to see their reactions.

"Sounds good." Jughead answered before she had the chance to ask him what he thought.

"There's a tomato one or a cheese with bacon one?" Emma had found another jar and was now holding out both. Robyn heard Jughead sigh at given another choice to make.

"Whichever you want." The two girls laughed lightly at his answer and Robyn reached up and grabbed the cheese sauce.

"This ones better." She turned to start getting things ready. "Why don't you to go find something to watch, I'll get this in the oven and be out in a minute."

She watched as Jughead helped Emma off the counter and she left to go do as she suggested.

"Is there anything I can do to help, I know my way around a kitchen?" She was already shaking her head lightly.

"I make these sauces in advance so I don't have to do much when actually cooking the meal." He looked mildly surprised at her answer.

"You put a lot of effort into meals." It wasn't a question but she thought for a moment how to respond while preparing the pasta bake.

"Well, I only work every fourth Saturday or so and I usually have an evening or two free a week, I don't spend a huge amount of time on it but I make a point of spending a little time every week preparing meals. The meals are pretty simple but at least it's a hot meal every evening, occasionally I'll do something a bit more involved, when I get the chance." She bent to put the bake in the oven.

"I think it's great that you do." She smiled up at him.

"Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes or so." She stood up as she spoke and received a smile back from Jughead. "Let's go and see what Emma has put on for us to watch."

Jughead followed her back into the living room to see Emma had found some rom-com on netflix that looked like it was two hours of his life he'd never get back but he refrained from saying anything as he took back up the seat he was in previously, Emma had taken the chair and Robyn had already curled up on the other side of the couch.

"Seriously?" He couldn't help but smile at Robyn's response to the movie pick, he could see she had similar thoughts on the movie as he did.

"It's supposed to be good." Robyn just snorted at the remark.

"You say that about a lot of movies that we end up hating." A look of mock hurt came on to Emmas face before it quickly faded to a smile aa she couldn't hold it.

"We have fun mocking them though." That earned a rolling of the eyes and small shake of the head from Robyn.

"Sorry, and don't judge my movie tastes based on tonight." Jughead laughed at the statement directed at him.

"I promise, no judgement." He was glad when he recieved a bright smile in return.

"I got the message from dad, he's out tonight. But as per tradition he will be picking you up Sunday after your party to take you out for the day, I don't think we will be seeing much of him before that." Robyn had turned back to her sister, she didn't look at all surprised by the development.

"Sounds good to me." She smiled and then took a deep breath to get herself ready for the the next bit of news to pass over.

"I also talked to my dad about you staying a while..." She turned to look at the look of complete shock on Jugheads face. "He said you can stay-"

"I said no to your offer." He interrupted her and didn't sound too happy about her pressing it.

"I know, and if youd really rather stay where you are then fine, I won't push. But you have a room, a bed and an actual stable roof over your head available here, if you find that any better that a shack outside." He could hear the sarcasm come up towards the end of the sentence and knew it made sense to take her up on the offer but he hated taking anything from anyone, he sighed heavily and he saw Robyn smile as if she had won.

"You're living in a shack?" He flinched slightly at Emmas tone and saw her looking shocked. "You have to come stay here." He sighed again.

"Seems we aren't taking no for an answer." He couldn't help but smile at them both then. "But you don't get a free ride, you'll be added to the chore timetable."

That actually made him feel a little better and the small smile on Robyns lips said she knew it, he returned the smile and nodded.

"Thank you." She smiled brighter and nodded in return.

"You're welcome. Do you want to grab your stuff before or after dinner?"

"Do I have time to go before it's ready?" He didn't think there was that much time left before it was.

"Not walking, but I can can drive you over there and make it back in time." He gave her a slightly surprised look before nodding, she started to get up as soon as he did. "You ok for 10 minutes?" She glanced over to Emma then.

"Of course."

"If the oven beeps take it out, it needs to sit anyway, and feel free to start the trainwreck of a movie, I'm sure we won't miss much.

They heard the loud peal of laughter from Emma as they headed out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14- Start of Something.**

Robyn led Jughead into the garage where a small black car sat, she clicked the button on the keys and saw the lights flash to signal the doors unlocking. She looked over to Jughead to see him looking oddly towards the car, she turned a questioning gaze to him.

"I've seen you stuggle to walk in a staight line, you sure I'm safe getting in a car with you?" There was humour in his voice but he did seem slightly concerned, she couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Don't worry, I'm a better driver my walking may suggest. I wouldn't drive you anywhere unless I was sure it was safe." He nodded then, conceding the point. "Plus it's only a few minute drive." He smiled and made his way into the passenger side of the car as she got into the drivers seat.

They were quiet as she pulled the car out of the garage and made her way down the street.

"I'm sorry for how I made you do this, it was only because I really thought it was for the best." She found herself not wanting to make eye contact as she gave the apology, until he heard the laugh coming from him which made her turn to see the expression on his face.

"I thought we had a deal to wait for a week?" There was still plenty of humour in his voice but the question was genuine.

"I know but I hated the thought of sending you back there tonight, when we had a prefectly good room where you would be so much more comfortable. I probably should have gone about it differently." She glanced over again with an apolegetic look.

"You can stop looking at me like that, it's really ok. I agree that I'd be more comfortable there, I guess I just had trouble accepting it. Accepting this from you." She just nodded as they pulled up next to the drive-in.

"Want a hand grabbing everything?" She parked the car and looked over to see him shaking his head.

"I don't have a lot." He got out of the car quickly and made his way into the movie hut.

He still wasn't sure how he'd got talked into doing this, Robyn and her sister both seemed great and he felt a little like he was taking advantage of their generousity. He dispelled the thoughts with a small shake of his head as he grabbed his things from around the small hut. He tried telling himself that he wasn't taking advantage and he wasn't being an imposition, they had practically forced him into it, they were happy to help and he wasn't wrong to take them up on it. He finished grabbing everything and sighed, running his hand throught his hair, knocking his beanie slightly. This was the right decision and it wouldn't be for long, he would help out anyway he could and make sure he was a good house guest, minimal intrusion on their life. With that he left the drive-in and jumped back into the car, he saw the strange look Robyn gave him and smiled at her softly, she smiled back and restarted the car.

"I need to talk to you about something." Robyn saw Jughead look concerned as he turned to look at her. "Nothing to worry about." She was quick to assure him and saw him calm at her words.

"Shoot."

"It's about your dad." She saw the surprised look on hso face. "We talked a few days ago, and you've got a choice to make."

"I don't understand." She nodded at the statement.

"You will. I told him that, if he wants, I will be the way for you two to be in contact again, if you want that too?" She phrased it as a question as he hestitantly nodded. "I told him he wouldn't get any information about you from me, unless you specifically told me you wanted to know, or if it involved me directly or I really felt he needed to know about, but that you'd be aware of anything that I told him." She looked over to see him nod again.

"Does that mean you'll tell him I'm staying with you now?" She half shrugged at the question.

"Not if you really don't want me to, but I think it's a good idea that he knows you are safe and staying somewhere." He just nodded lightly. "Think on it, I won't tell him unless you're sure and give me the go ahead." He looked happier as he nodded again.

They pulled back into the garage then, she stopped the car and turned to look more fully at him.

"I also told him that I wouldn't lie to you about him." He nodded again, sensing more to the statement. "There was a condition that he had to accept, something that was a deal breaker for me, and which it's up to you to decide on." She tooked a breath to steel herself to say the next part. "I can't do this in half measures, if I'm going to do this then I do this properly. He is recovering and a part of that is the support he needs from the people around him. I know you can't be around him physically right now and that's where I come in, but I won't just tell you part of the story. I either tell you everything, the good and the bad, or I tell you nothing." She made eye contact with him then and saw a strange look in his eye. "If you want to know everything then later tonight, I need to tell you something, and probably over the next few days I will fill you in on everything you missed this summer. I will also give you a full justification for telling you the things I do tonight."

"And if I don't?" She shrugged again at the question.

"Then I don't tell you anything and once he is ready he will reach out and you can reconnect that way." He nodded to her. "You don't need to decide right now-"

"I want to know, all of it." He interrupted and as their eyes met she could tell he meant it, she nodded to him.

"Well, we will talk more tonight, once Emma is upstairs. Right now we need to head back in and watch this god-awful movie she is forcing us through." He laughed lightly then and she was glad to see it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15- Tour.**

"Dinners finished, I'm just taking it out." Emmas voice travelled from the kitchen to Robyn walking in the door with Jughead following a step behind. They walked through to the kitchen.

"Thank you." Robyn watched as her sister put the pasta bake on the oven top. "Can you get some bowls and stuff ready while I give Jughead the full tour of the place?"

"Sure thing." Emma smiled and got to doing as her sister asked.

"The full tour?" Jughead asked, surprised.

"Of course. Right, you've seen most of down here, we have the dining room through here." She led him through a door to the dining room, sparcely decorated but with a six seat dining table in the centre of the room. "We tend to eat here on evenings that I work, evenings off we are usually just sit and watch tv while we eat. You don't have to join us for dinner all the time, and you feel free to invite people over as long as you give a little warning and preferably people I know."

"I'm not one for a lot of dinner parties." She laughed lightly at the tone of voice he used.

"We aren't either, for the most part it's likely to just be the two of us, and you as often you like." He nodded at her.

"If your baking was anything to go by I think your food will be good enough to keep me coming for as many meals as you'll have me." That made her laugh again.

"I look forward to your review of my cooking." She took him to the back of the dining room to the patio doors. "We have a garden as well, which we spend time in when it's warm out, it will start getting colder now so I can't see it happening too often." She led him back out of the dining room and through the kitchen back to the stairs by the front door, when upstairs she took him down one side to the bedroom that would be his. "It's a pretty bare bedroom but the bed is comfy and the tv has everything including Netflix, we can make you up your own account if you'd rather not get the recommendations from Emmas movie choices." That made him laugh brightly.

"You don't need to do that." She joined in laughing lightly and nodded.

"You've got a wardrobe and chest of drawers, we have extra shelves if you need them too. There's also nails in the wall in case you want to hang anything. If you need anything else just let me know, feel free to decorate and make the place your own." Jughead smiled at her as he made his way to the bed to drop off his bag, planning on unpacking it later.

"I really don't need much shelf space, I'm fairly minimalistic in nature." She nodded lightly at him.

"We are a chatty bunch in this house so you will hear a lot of stories, especially from Emma about school and friends. However tell either of us to shut up or go away and we will." That made him laugh again. "We also have an open door policy so we tend to be in and out of each others rooms all the time, this is open to you so feel free to step into either of our rooms to hang out and talk, or just to have a little company. I'll make sure Emma doesn't do that to you without your permission." She followed him back out of the bedroom and pointed to the next door at the end of the hall for him to open. "That's the bathroom, pretty standard bath, shower, toilet, and sink. We have a whole bunch of products in there but if you have any requests let me know and I'll get some in. There's also the main first aid kit in here, a secondary one in the kitchen just in case. Emma showers in there in the morning but I'll make sure she plans so she's out with enough for you, if you need though there is another shower in my en suite that you can use whenever you need. I'm usually awake, ready and downstairs by the time Emma is in the shower so it should be free for you." He nodded to her, looking around the bathroom briefly.

"I'm happy with any products you've got." She closed the door and gestured back up the hall to the door on the other side of his.

"My room, go on in." He opened the door and stepped in. "The en suite is that door in the corner. The walls aren't too bad so you shouldn't be disturbed too much but I'll keep the noise down at night, I don't sleep very well so I tend to be up late." He nodded, a slightly look of concern coming to his face as he turned back to her.

"I'm not a great sleeper either so I don't mind." She smiled and was glad to see the concern start to leave his face as he turned back to the room. "This art all yours?" She shrugged lightly.

"Some are mine, a few are pieces I bought or got as gifts. I swap out the ones in here all the time, Emma has a lot in her room too." He nodded.

"And who is this guy?" She felt herself blush as he took hold of the stuffed toy on her bed.

"She, is a girl start." He chuckled lightly.

"Oh sorry, whos is this girl?" He held it up and shook it slightly.

"She is little elephant, because I had no imagination as a child." He laughed brightly again.

"I like it." She felt the blush deepen as she reached up grabbed the stuffed toy from him, but couldn't help the smile that came to her face at his laugh.

"I also have a big elephant, but he is in Emmas room now. I got them when I was about 2 so that was pretty much the limit of my naming ability." That made him chuckle lightly again. "Anyway, on with the tour." She put little elephant back on the bed and followed Jughead back out of the room. She lead him back passed the stairs to te other side and gestured to the furthest door. "That's my dad's room, only room that's off limits." She went towards the other door. "This is Emmas room." She opened the door and moved to allow him to look around the room covered in pastel colours, hanging pictures and sketches. She watched him look around with a smile on his face and quirk an eyebrow.

"Big elephant?" She rolled her eyes and nodded, realising he had noticed the stuffed toy that was much the same as the one in her room but larger. She closed the door as she moved away.

"I think that's about everything." She started making her way back to the stairs with Jughead following. "We don't have many rules here, you're not expected to follow a kurfew or anything, you can come and go as you please and spend as much or as little time with us as you like. Bring people over to stay out all night, I need to know if people are coming and I'd rather know if you aren't going to be back for the night. I know you work at the drive-in some nights, we love going as well when we get the chance. I'll get a key cut for you and give it to you after school tomorrow." He nodded lightly.

"Thank you, for all of this. This place is great, so are you and your sister." She smiled broadly at that.

"You're very welcome." She walked back into the kitchen to see everything laid out ready for the dinner to be served. "Go sit down and I'll bring everything in, what drink do you like?"

"I'll grab drinks, you can't carry everything." Jughead ignored her suggestion and went to the fridge instead. "Coke for you both?" Robyn nodded to him.

"Thank you." He just nodded in return and made his way into the living room to see Emma back in the chair and handed her one of the drinks, placing the other two on the small table in front of the couch.

"Didn't start the movie then?" Emma just smiled and shook her head.

"Wouldn't want you to miss anything." He laughed lightly at that.

Robyn came in holding three bowls of the pasta bake and he stood up to help her by taking his bowl from her arm. She passed the other bowl to her sister and sat down at the other end of the couch to him.

"It's nice of you to help, so thank you. I am a waitress though, I can manage to carry this stuff." She laughed a little and her sister joined in with it making Jughead roll his eyes trying to keep a straight face.

"Just trying to keep the pasta in the bowls instead of on the floor." That earned a shocked look from Robyn.

"I am really not the clumsy." That just got a snort of laughter from Emma before she turned her attention back to the tv to start the movie.


End file.
